It is generally known in industrial cleaning processes or in vapor degreasing, besides using pure chlorinated and/or fluorinated hydrocarbons, to also use mixtures of fluorochlorohydrocarbons (as the principal solvent) with a co-solvent. Such mixtures may be either non-azeotropic or azeotropic or azeotrope-like. As used herein, the term "azeotrope-like" is understood to mean that mixtures throughout a fairly large concentration range boil at a substantially constant temperature (change in boiling temperature of not more than 5.degree. C.) and therefore behave similarly to azeotropes for practical use.
A number of efforts have already been made to produce cleaning compositions with the desired properties. For instance, it is known from DE-OS 29 42 799 to use mixtures of trichlorotrifluoroethane with ethanol and methyl acetate to remove resin soldering fluxes.
However, the known mixtures are still in need of improvement as far as their use properties are concerned. In particular, in conjunction with the further industrial developments in the field of fluxes, new requirements have arisen with respect to the removal of these newly developed fluxes. These requirements are not always fulfilled, or frequently have only been fulfilled unsatisfactorily, by the known solvent mixtures. A need therefore exists for new solvent mixtures with special new properties.